So Zalmay Khalilzad, the former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq and current U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, has been rebuked by the State Department for having the temerity to sit next to Iran’s foreign minister at a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Mr. Khalilzad apparently did not shake the Iranian official’s hand or even address any comments to him directly, but a State Department spokesman nevertheless called his appearance on the panel “unauthorized.”

Apparently U.S. officials are so delicate that mere proximity to an Iranian official can cause them significant harm. The brutality of our foreign policy is matched by its pettiness.